Sanman Pug Mananquil Beats ALA’s Waminal to Wrest OPBF Belt

Ben Mananquil had been wanting to turn doubters into believers and did just that Saturday night when he gutted out a majority decision win over the hard-fighting Jess Rhey Waminal in the main event of the “Road Stardom” fight card at the overflowing Polomolok Gymnasium in Polomolok, South Cotabato.

Mananquil further boosted his stock as the hard-earned win netted him the vacant Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) belt while improving his record to 15W-1L-2D, 3KOS.

“I still can’t believe that I was able to win the title. Waminal is a tough fighter. I just did my best and stayed focus,” said Mananquil.

Two judges had identical scores of 96-94 for Mananquil, while the third judge had it even, 95-95.

“I am happy for Ben. Before, no one believed him to reach this far but he is one, if not the most hardworking boxer in our gym and I am not surprised that he was able to beat a tough boxer like Waminal,” said Jim Claude Manangquill, chief executive officer of the Sanman Promotions.

“It was a great fight. The two boxers really wanted to win but Ben showed he was the better boxer,” added Manangquiil.

Waminal, who dropped to 11W-2L1D, 6KOs, was the aggressor for the large part of the fight but Mananquil was able to contain him with his timely counter attacks.

“I think I did a good job defending. I can see his punches because he is tall,” said Mananquil.

ALA Boxing Gym trainer Michael Domingo said Waminal put up a good showing but has to improve on his timing.

Waminal also sustained a cut above the right eyebrow late in the eighth round due to clash of heads.

“There were too many punches that didn’t connect. Timing is something that we have to work on,” said Domingo.

In the co-main event, Jade Bornea (9W-0L-6KOs) retained his IBF Youth super flyweight title with a fourth-round technical knockout (TKO) win over Thailander Samuthra Sitaran (4W-2L-0D, 2KOs).

Bornea floored Samuthra twice in the fourth round with solid body shots, forcing the referee to stop the fight.

Samuthra was a late replacement after Bornea's original opponent Jakkrawut Majoogoen failed to make the trip after losing his passport a few days before the fight.

On the other hand, former interim world champion Randy Petalcorin (27W-2L-1D, 20KOs), posted a sixth-round TKO win over Jetly Purisima (21W-24L-4D, 6KOs).

In other undercard fights, Jason Mama (7W-0L-3KOs) pulled off a second-round TKO win over Bimbo Nacionales (14W-15L-1D, 3KOs); Jaime Barcelona (40W-61L-1D, 10KOs) defeated Eden Sonsona (36W-8L-2D, 13KOs); Gabby Simpo (7W-7L-1D, 2KOs) nipped Remar Metuda (11W-3L-6KOs); Jervin Mama (2W-0L-2KOs) posted a fourth-round TKO win over Jessie James Boiles (3W-14L-2D, 3KOs); Mark Antonio (3W-0L-0D, 3KOs) beat Michael Padayag (3W-9L-1D); Dave Apolinario (3W-0L-2KOs) tripped Rudy Salaton (0W-2L); Jagear Bereno (2W-0L) won over Jerry Tabamo (0W-1L); and Jun Rick Carcedo debuted with a first-round knockout win over fellow debuting fighter Jason Tresmonte.